Usable Insight – Don’t Panic!
-Bob Eckert, CEO and Chairman, Mattel
Bob Eckert, the CEO of Mattel, Inc., told me the story of a time when panic nearly overtook him. It was Sunday afternoon in 1990, and the 35-year old Eckert, then a division president at Kraft Foods, stared at the NFL game on television. He felt like a deer in the headlights of a career disaster.
Bob Eckert kept staring at the television and listened to an interview with the innovative Cincinnati Bengals coach Sam Wyche. The Bengals – who had won the Super Bowl the previous year — had just lost their ninth game of the season. Wyche had been called on the carpet; it was common knowledge that he was about to lose his job.
A reporter approached him and said: “Coach, you’re going to get fired on Tuesday. Tell me about it.” Wyche responded directly to the camera: “You know I’m going to get fired Tuesday and I know. But that’s not important. What is important is to help this team get better up until I’m let go.”
Eckert felt stunned. “It seemed like he was talking directly to me,” he said. The next morning, he went back to work accepting that he would be fired, but determined to help the company do better in the meantime. Instead of continuing to feel like Chicken Little worrying about the sky falling, he applied himself to important tasks that pulled Kraft through the crisis.
Needless to say, Eckert wasn’t fired. He stayed on at Kraft, became its President and CEO, and moved on to the top job at Mattel, Inc.(where he has continued to heed this advice through the recalls of many Mattel products using lead paint).
“Of all the advice I’ve ever received and followed, Wyche’s is pre-eminent,” Eckert told me later. “Maybe it’s because when you’re alone in self-doubt it can escalate rapidly until you can’t move. But when someone who’s in the hot seat shows such determination, it can inspire you to develop your own resolve. Wyche’s advice helped me to overcome being afraid to fail. It guides me still.”
The above was excerpted from“Chapter 16: Panicking” Get Out of Your Own Way at Work …and Help Others Do the Same, by Mark Goulston, M.D. Perigee Books, $14.95).
Of additional interest on the topic of this blog in the same book is “Chapter 9: Lacking Self-Discipline.” The essence of that chapter is that life is not about self-discipline, it is about habits. Successful people have different habits than unsuccessful people AND people who panic have different habits than those who remain calm. A habit is a routine behavior that you do regularly that requires little to no effort to maintain, because it has become internalized.
* Join my new FOCUS and READY, AIM, CHANGE Groups at the new Keith Ferrazzi community. Sign in and become a member.
September 16th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Great Blog post. I am going to bookmark and read more often. I love the Blog template
September 17th, 2008 at 5:44 am
I believe the recommendation Sam gave to Bob Eckert may not have been the
most pofound suggestion I have ever heard but it comes close. To keep
your eye on the ball is always a critical key to success but when you are
about to get your rear-end handed to you it is about the best demonstation
of character I can think of. I am proud to consider Sam a friend and we
can all learn a lot from by listening to him when he is talking.
Ray Steck
September 17th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Sam Wyche is my 1st cousin; my mothers sisters son. What an inspiratonal man he is. He still takes the time to come to our family reunions along with his son Zack who came all the way from Cincinati Ohio to take part in the gathering. Is always there for any one in need. I’ m proud to be his cousin along with the rest of our tribe. Lee Culpepper
November 1st, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I really like what you had to say here! It\’s about time! Would you mind if I placed a link back from my blog?
November 19th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
[...] in case people are too afraid to get into being thankful check out Don’t Panic. and have people try the advice that Bob Eckert, CEO of Mattel follows to stay on [...]
December 12th, 2008 at 3:27 am
lead paint…
Well spoken. I have to research more on this as it is really vital info….
January 4th, 2009 at 1:38 am
hi…
disagree…
February 19th, 2009 at 2:47 pm
Thank you for your help!
February 21st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Hey very nice blog!! Man .. Beautiful .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your blog and take the feeds also…
February 24th, 2009 at 1:00 am
I just love your weblog! Very nice post! Still you can do many things to improve it.
April 7th, 2009 at 2:27 am
Nice…